In an all-Team USA affair between two 13-time PBA champions, Chris Barnes defeated Tommy Jones, 212-198, to win the men’s gold medal in the inaugural World Singles Championships Tuesday at Galactica Bowling Center in Limassol, Cyprus.

In the semifinals, Barnes (pictured left) edged Colombia’s Andres Gómez, 246-244, while Jones (right) flew past Osku Palermaa of Finland, 259-199. Jones received the silver medal, while Gómez and Palermaa shared the bronze medal.

It was the second consecutive individual title at World Championships for Barnes, who won the gold medal in Masters at the 2010 Men’s World Championships in Germany.

Opposite to the high-scoring semifinal matches, the title match was a lower scoring affair. Jones, the No. 2 seed, suffered a big split in his first frame and a spare in the second frame to give Barnes a head start.

The No. 5 seed started with strike-spare and while both players added two strikes and single-pin spare, Barnes hold a 14-pin lead heading into the final five frames. He left a split in the sixth frame which he failed to convert but Jones, who narrowed the gap with a strike, immediately gave back the advantage after an open frame in the seventh.

That was all a player of this caliber needed. Barnes reeled off three consecutive strikes to pull away and wrapped up the title with a spare and a strike on his fill ball. Jones, who closed out the match with a spare and three strikes plus seven on the fill ball, had to settle for the silver medal.

Barnes, however, had some hard work to do to advance to the title match. He started his semifinal match against Gómez with an open frame, probably the best place for an open in this match, if there is any.

The Colombian (left), who won his first PBA title in last season’s World Series of Bowling, started with a strike, and then gave the advantage back when he opened in frame two. Barnes struck on his next three shots before he converted a single-pin spare in the fifth frame.

Gómez recovered from the open and fired seven consecutive strikes in frames 3-9, but only to hold a slim 11-pin lead heading into the final frame. He had a chance to strike out for 266 but left a single pin on his first ball which he converted and got another nine-count on the fill ball for 244.

Barnes got up and needed strike-nine-spare for 246 en route to win the match and that was exactly what he got.

In the other semifinal match, Jones and three-time PBA champion Palermaa (right) were tied for two frames as both players struck on the first two balls. While Jones connected for a six-bagger, the two-hander sandwiched two spares around two open frames to give the American an insurmountable lead.

The Finn struck in the seventh, ninth and doubled in the tenth frame but Jones cruised to a 259-199 victory.

Free live streaming was provided of the entire championships. To view the archived videos click here.

Beginning in 2012, the World Singles Championships will be held every four years. The new event gives WTBA a world championship event every year, filling a void created under the previous calendar.

The joint Combined World Championships will take place in 2013, the Men’s World Championships will take place in 2014 and Women’s World Championships in 2015. Each of those events are also held every four years.

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2012 World Singles Championships – Men’s Finals

Galactica Bowling Center in Limassol, Cyprus (Sept. 18-26, 2012)

Championship Round:
1. Chris Barnes, United States
2. Tommy Jones, United States
3. Osku Palermaa, Finland and Andrés Gómez, Colombia

L-R Jones, Barnes, Palermaa and Gomez

Playoff Results:
Semifinal Match 1: No. 5 Barnes def. No. 9 Gómez, 246-244
Semifinal Match 2: No. 2 Jones def. No. 6 Palermaa, 259-199
Championship: Barnes def. Jones, 212-198.

Men’s Division Final Standings (places 5-71)

5. Syafiq Ridhwan, Malaysia
6. Martin Paulsson, Sweden
7. Stuart Williams, England
8. Khaled Al-Dossari, Qatar
9. Matt Miller, England
10. Michael Mak, Hong Kong
11. Mohammed Kamel, Kuwait
12. Tore Torgersen, Norway
13. Thomas Larsen, Denmark
14. Thomas Gross, Austria
15. Zulmazran Zulkifli, Malaysia
16. Oliver Leroy, Belgium
17. Mats Maggi, Belgium
18. Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland
19. Dennis Eklund, Sweden
20. Mahmoud Mazloum, Egypt
21. Catalin Gheorghe, Romania
22. Jassim Abbas, Kuwait
23. Michael Holzapfel, Germany
24. Yousif Falah, Bahrain
25. Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong
26. Sergey Isaev, Russia
27. Stephan Unger, Germany
28. Mansour Al-Hajri, Qatar
29. Björn Einar Rudshagen, Norway
30. Dan MacLelland, Canada
31. Or Aviram, Israel
32. Oleksandr Kalika, Ukraine
33. Stavros Parasakis, Greece
34. Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine
35. Lukas Andrassy, Slovakia
36. Mariusz Musialik, Poland
37. Paul Stott, Ireland
38. Marco Reviglio, Italy
39. Hafthor Hardarson, Iceland
40. Jord van Weeren, Netherlands
41. Abdulla Fawaz, Bahrain
42. Romeo Gagenoiu, Romania
43. Jaime Monroy, Colombia
44. Orestis Papadopoulos, Cyprus
45. Jan Macek, Czech Republic
46. George Tziotis, Greece
47. Nati Volpert, Israel
48. Marcio Vieira, Brazil
49. Justin Scicluna, Malta
50. Linas Sasnauskas, Lithuania
51. Dmitrijs Cebotarjovs, Latvia
52. Roberto Silva, Mexico
53. Phil Hulst, Netherlands
54. Kanstantsin Karazeyey, Belarus
55. Pavel Sobolev, Belarus
56. Rankin Camilleri, Malta
57. Mohamed Al-Marzooqi, UAE
58. Slavoljub Miljkovic, Serbia
59. Martin Siroky, Czech Republic
60. Andreas Karistianos, Cyprus
61. Anton Sharov, Russia
62. Guy Igliori, Brazil
63. Zoltan Skobrics, Hungary
64. Marek Keckes, Slovakia
65. Kestutis Gudauskas, Lithuania
66. Janusz Pietraszek, Poland
67. Janos Farkas, Hungary
68. Hamad Al-Majidi, UAE
69. Thomas Tybl, Austria
70. Hichem Chemli, Tunisia
71. Khaled Meziou, Tunisia